This past week I was scheduled to fly my first Pilots N Paws flight with a very pregnant doggie from the Central California Coast to Northern California. It turns out the little Momma was too close to her whelping date so the mission was scrubbed. Since I have family in NorCal, I was going anyway so I offered a ride to my girlfriend Shelby. Although Shelby and her daughter had never been in a small plane, she jumped at the opportunity of a 1 hour 25 minute flight instead of a 5 hour drive.

The morning of the flight came and we had pea soup fog right down on the deck. We waited a bit and drove the 20 minutes down to the airport. Shelby and Saylor were very excited about getting to fly and both peppered me with questions. Saylor wanted to know about what clouds were made of, and if we would land on them. Shelby however had done her homework. As a business owner herself she saw the benefit in flying versus driving and had spent the prior few days researching flight schools, requirements for the private pilot certificate and even airplane types. As we pulled up to the gate and accessed the airport, their faces just lit up. I think as pilots we sometimes take for granted driving onto the airport, looking into the hangars, having a commercial airline landing a couple hundred yards from us. None of this was lost on Saylor and Shelby.

As I pulled the airplane out and started my pre-flight a couple of friends stopped by to say hello. One is a long time FedEx pilot who also has a Cub and the other a newly minted girl-pilot who just purchased a Cessna 152. When they found out that Shelby was interested in becoming a pilot, the conversation became very animated and lively. Shelby got to go and check out the 152 while we waited out the ceiling.

Beautiful Saylor

I loaded up the girls and gave them my briefing on emergencies, communication and comfort and we were off. It has been awhile since I have flown someone new to flying. I am pretty used to loading up Mooney Lucas Aviation Puppy, my son and going. The flight was very smooth and the girls continued to be very excited. After I leveled off I let Shelby fly. She really seems to be a natural. She was able to maintain altitude and fly to heading. As we got close to descent, I explained the traffic pattern and what I would be doing in the approach to landing.

Future Pilot Shelby

Squeak squeak and we were down. Shelby said, “It’s like magic, I am hooked!” Although the Pilots N Paws flight would have been very satisfying, I have to say that these flights with Saylor and Shelby were just a ton of fun. We need more pilots and even more than that, we need airport lovers. As we enter this season of Thanksgiving perhaps we can all reflect with gratitude of our talents, zeal, and freedoms of the air. Let’s share that enthusiasm with others. Be generous with our “magic” and perhaps we will entice more into our fold.

Business and transportation go hand-in-hand. To prosper, businesses need to service existing customers in a fashion that maintains their loyalty. To expand, businesses must reach new markets. Without swift and cost-effective transportation, business persons are limited in their ability to maintain and grow their activities.

Hence the need for Business Aviation, which I assert could be used by a larger segment of the public if we made flying easier. An ancillary benefit from facilitating use of General Aviation aircraft for business transportation would be more discretionary and pleasure flights, just as we use automobiles as an essential element in everyday activities.

While part of the joy of flying is mastering a challenging task, using a GA aircraft for routine business or pleasure transportation is not easy—certainly not as easy as driving a car. We seem to take for granted that just about anyone with a driver’s license can rent an unfamiliar car at a strange airport and safely venture off onto a stormy night. Such is the ease of operation of the typical car. If GA aircraft were as easy to operate, I assert that society be the beneficiary.

Technology enables an aerial vehicle about the size and aeronautical complexity of the average General Aviation aircraft to fly remotely over any area of the globe to rain Hellfire missiles on our enemies. We certainly could use elements of that drone technology to make GA aircraft more user friendly.

Consider the following scenario for an Advanced General Aviation Aircraft (AGAA): Flight plans for our hypothetical AGAA begin with the pilot entering his or her desired path into a home computer or tablet. An app such as ForeFlight evaluates weather and navigational facilities along available routes and selects the optimum path for safety and minimum fuel burn. The proposed flight planning system for an AGAA avoids routes that conflict with IFR traffic, and the resulting plan is transmitted to the autopilot of our advanced aircraft.

Depending on the inclination of the pilot, the flight could be flown totally on autopilot or manually. If the latter mode were selected, technology would provide desirable handling qualities for ease of manual flight and automatic correction should the pilot inadvertently approach the boundaries of the aircraft’s flight envelop. Engine monitors would continuously assess the health of the engine/aircraft, alerting the pilot to issues that might present problems. Nearby traffic would be presented to the pilot of our AGAA, and the system’s autopilot would take over if needed to avoid a midair.

Considering the state of today’s avionics equipment for General Aviation as well as the extensive use of drones in military and civilian applications, such an Advanced General Aviation Aircraft is technically feasible. Furthermore, I believe that an AGAA would be welcomed by a latent market for such a form of transportation. Many people express a desire to fly, start lessons, obtain a student certificate, but drop out before earning their private or becoming active aviators. Only about 40 percent of student pilots advance to private status, and about half of the holders of private certificates remain active beyond their first 100 hours of flying. Our community’s dropout rate reflects the potential for GA if aircraft were more user friendly and productive for the average person.

Being user friendly implies being more affordable. If an aircraft were easier to operate for business and pleasure, the demand for aircraft would be expanded significantly and costs would be reduced. If Detroit sold automobiles at the same rate that Wichita sells GA aircraft, the average family car would cost well over a million dollars.

It is time for our community to aggressively develop an Advanced General Aviation Aircraft.

If your heart is tied to aviation then you probably felt a little bit crushed, deflated, last month, when the aerospace world took one step forward, then two big steps back, all in one week.

Google executive Alan Eustace rose to, then fell from 135,000 feet on October 25, breaking a fairly recent record of just under 128,000 feet set by Felix Baumgartner in a much publicized Red Bull-sponsored stunt just a couple years ago. Eustace, unlike Baumgartner, performed his feat in relative obscurity. He told the press afterward that he wanted to make sure the gamble worked before publicizing it. What was unusual about the skydive was that Eustace used only a pressure suit and an 11 million cubic foot balloon to ascend—no fancy pressure capsule needed.

Eustace had clearly studied the Baumgartner jump, because he chose a different freefall position, and wore in his pressure suit a forced-heated-air system to keep his faceplate from fogging. The result was a much more stable five minute freefall to earth—one he could actually watch from inside his pressure suit. The gambit was a risk, and it worked out. One step forward.

On the other hand, just five days later Orbital Sciences had to destroy an Antares rocket and payload seconds after liftoff when one of the rocket’s venerable engines failed. The company had been purchasing the engines from Russian sources. Company CEO David Thompson told press that the company will find different engines for its rockets from now on.

Hot on the heels of this news came the inflight breakup of SpaceShipTwo, killing the co-pilot, Michael Tyner Alsbury, and injuring its pilot, Peter Siebold. The aircraft was in its final flight testing regime, and was expected to begin taking passengers into near-earth orbit sometime in 2015.

There is no question of that happening now. Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Galactic, is clearly heartbroken and deeply concerned as the crash investigation progresses. The NTSB hints at possible causes, but I won’t be an armchair investigator and go into any details about an ongoing NTSB investigation here. The lay press are bad enough at that.

One step forward, two big steps back. The result is that the budding commercial space industry had a very bad month in October; and we are left with questions about the wisdom of how NASA contract monies are being spent; and even whether the dream of space tourism is a reasonable possibility, given today’s technology.

Personally? I want to see Branson shake it off and get back to the task of innovating, for the sake of humanity. Sure, those first flights are going to be little more than joyrides, but think of the possibilities that kind of technology may have for our future. Aerospace is about speed and altitude and moving people and materials as quickly and efficiently as possible. It always has been about that, at the core. Branson’s dream could jump us forward—something that hasn’t happened since the days of Concorde.

Or it could be a false path, as Concorde turned out to be. The thing is, we won’t know until we try. I hope he keeps trying until the universe finally grants him success.

I’m a professional futurist and perhaps the most common question that I’ve received on radio interviews and after speeches is, “So where’s the flying cars? You futurists have been predicting that forever.”

First of all, that’s not true. There have been some science fiction folks, of course, that always had some variation of a car that flies, but I don’t know of any real futurist that “predicted” that we’d have flying cars at any particular time.

That said . . . they’re coming!

You can’t look across the breakthroughs that are happening in a variety of technological areas and at the same time notice the new crop of flying/driving machines that are soon to be sold and on the drawing boards, and not believe that something’s going on. Change is in the wind and, like drones, there will be far more flying cars in the not very distant future.

I’ve covered a rather sexy planned flying car here in the past but thought you might like to see a couple that could be closer in.

TERRAFUGIA

Terrafugia, of course, is the biggest kid on the block, sporting a bunch of MIT graduates who have had a flying model of their initial Transition car/plane for about two years. You can make a down payment, with delivery anticipated to be sometime soon.

Their ultimate objective is the TF-X, shown below. They had a mockup of this car/plane at Oshkosh this summer. It’s a vertical takeoff and landing machine that is really quite extraordinary.

From Slovakia comes the AeroMobil 3.0, one of the most futuristic looking entries in the flying car field. It flies at 125 mph or more for 430 miles and can max out at over 100 mph on the ground and cover distances exceeding 500 miles. The AeroMobil 3.0 is undergoing flight testing now (you can see a great video here).

Whether we like it or not, pilots are perceived in the wider society as people who are special, smart, capable, with maybe just a hint of the heroic about us. They see us as risk takers. Of course the truth is somewhat more nuanced than that. Still, the fact that we are pilots makes an impression on people. An impression that can last for years. That makes the importance of the impression we make of real importance. If we leave a sense of professionalism and integrity, that’s good. If we come off as rebels who have no use for authority, that’s not so good.

Recently I got a reminder of this exact lesson from my own past.

A Facebook friend request came my way from a name I didn’t recognize. I took a look at the requester’s profile and found they live roughly 2,000 miles distant. Clearly, we don’t cross paths on Main Street, or in the grocery store. But the requester’s profile photo included an airplane. Because of that, I surmised the individual must be a pilot, possibly someone who read one of my columns or magazine articles, so I accepted the request from what I thought was a kindred spirit. Facebook, true to form, alerted this individual that I had accepted their request. We are now Facebook Friends.

Later in the day I found a message from my new connection that asked, are you the same Jamie Beckett who worked as a flight instructor in Meriden, Connecticut in 1992?

That question caught me by surprise. Responding in the affirmative, I hit the “send” button while harboring a considerable amount of curiosity. Within a few minutes the original question was given some much appreciated context. “You were my first flight instructor.”

Searching my logbooks later in the evening I found my new friend and I had flown together less than half a dozen times. I have no recollection of our flights, frankly. Perhaps they shifted to another instructor, or maybe they ran short of cash. It’s at least possible a work or family scheduling issue kept them from the airport. It doesn’t really matter what the reason might be for us having only a handful of lessons together. But apparently, the experience of flying made enough of an impression that my mystery student pursued it throughout the years, eventually fulfilling their goal and becoming a pilot.

What blows me away is that I remained in their memory for all these years. Twenty-two years to be exact. But then, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. I remember the instructors who made a significant impression on me during my time in flight school. Some of my fellow students have stayed in touch as well. Today we run the gamut, from corporate pilots to freight dogs to airline crewmembers, and me…the general aviation nut in the bunch. All these years later and we all still find each other to be good company, we are fascinated by the work we each do, and find a genuine interest in the stories we have to share and the adventures we’ve had along the way.

Somewhere along your path, you’ve made an impression on someone, too. Hopefully it was a good one. Knowing that we do indeed make a lasting impression now and then might make it a little easier for us to smile a little brighter, listen to our students, instructors, co-workers, passengers, and friends a little more closely, and perhaps go out of our way to be helpful and courteous more often.

I’ve always enjoyed hearing from one of my old students. I’m glad to know I helped them get somewhere they wanted to go in life. And now, I’ve gotten a great reminder of how deep and lasting the impression we make can be.

Upset recovery training has been all the rage over the past couple of years. A Google search of that exact phrase returns more than 24,000 results. There’s a professional association dedicated to such training. ICAO even declared aircraft upsets to be the cause of “more fatalities in scheduled commercial operations than any other category of accidents over the last ten years.”

Nevertheless, I get the impression that some folks wonder if it isn’t more of a safety fad than an intrinsic imperative. It’s hard to blame them. You can hardly open a magazine or aviation newsletter these days without seeing slick advertisements for this stuff. When I was at recurrent training a couple of months ago, CAE was offering upset recovery training to corporate jet pilots there in Dallas. “If I wanted to fly aerobatics, I’d fly aerobatics!” one aviator groused.

He didn’t ask my opinion, but if he had, I’d remind him that 99% of pilots spend 99% of their time in straight and level flight — especially when the aircraft in question is a business jet. I’m not exaggerating much when I say that even your typical Skyhawk pilot is a virtual aerobat compared to the kind of flying we do on charter and corporate trips. For one thing, passengers pay the bills and they want the smoothest, most uneventful flight possible.

In addition, these jets fly at very high altitudes – typically in the mid-40s and even as high as 51,000 feet. Bank and pitch attitudes tend to stay within a narrow band. Yaw? There shouldn’t be any. The ball stays centered, period. We aim for a level of smoothness that exceeds even that of the airlines. Passengers and catering may move about the cabin frequently during a flight, but it shouldn’t be because of anything we’re doing up front.

Fly like that for a decade or two, logging thousands and thousands of uneventful, straight-and-level hours and the thought of all-attitude flying can become – to put it mildly – uncomfortable. I’ve even seen former fighter pilots become squeamish at the thought of high bank or pitch angles after twenty years of bizjet flying.

Unfortunately, there are a wide variety of things that can land a pilot in a thoroughly dangerous attitude: wind shear, wake turbulence, autopilot failure, mechanical malfunction (hydraulic hard-overs, asymmetric spoiler or flap deployment, etc.), inattention, and last but not least, plain old pilot error. Look at recent high-profile accidents and you’ll see some surprisingly basic flying blunders from the crew. Air France 447, Colgan 3407, and Asiana 214 are just three such examples. It may not happen often, but when it does it can bite hard.

So yes, I think there is a strong need for more manual flying exposure in general, and upset recovery training in particular. This isn’t specific to jet aircraft, because some light aircraft have surpassed their turbine-powered cousins in the avionics department. I only wish the 1980’s era FMS computer in my Gulfstream was as speedy as a modern G1000 installation.

Defining the Problem

To the best of my knowledge, neither the NTSB or FAA provide a standard definition for “upset”, but much like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, we pretty much know it when we see it. The term has generally come to be defined as a flight path or aircraft attitude deviating significantly from that which was intended by the pilot. Upsets have led to loss of control, aircraft damage or destruction, and more than a few fatalities.

As automation proliferates, pilots receive less hands-on experience and a gradual but significant reduction in stick-and-rudder skill begins to occur. The change is a subtle one, and that’s part of what makes it so hazardous. A recent report by the FAA PARC rulemaking workgroup cites poor stick and rudder skills as the number two risk factor facing pilots today. The simple fact is that windshear, wake turbulence, and automation failures happen.

The purpose of upset recovery training is to give pilots the tools and experience necessary to recognize and prevent impending loss of control situations. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that’s why teaching recovery strategies from the most common upset scenarios is actually a secondary (though important) goal.

What about simulators? They’ve proven to be an excellent tool in pilot training, but even the most high fidelity Level D sims fall short when it comes to deep stalls and loss of control scenarios. For one thing, stall recovery is typically initiated at the first indication of stall, so the techniques taught in the simulator may not apply to a full aerodynamic stall. Due to the incredibly complex and unpredictable nature of post-stall aerodynamics, simulators aren’t usually programmed to accurately emulate an aircraft in a deeply stalled condition. Thus the need for in-aircraft experience to supplement simulator training.

Upset Recovery vs. Aerobatics

It’s important to note that upset recovery training may involve aerobatic maneuvering, but it does not exist to teach aerobatics. Periodically over the years, discussions on the merits of this training will cause a co-worker to broach the subject of flying an aerobatic maneuver in an airplane which is not designed and built for that purpose. This happened just the other day. Typically they’ll ask me if, as an aerobatic pilot, I would ever consider performing a barrel or aileron roll in the aircraft.

I used to just give them the short answer: “no”. But over time I’ve started explaining why I think it’s such a bad idea, even for those of us who are trained to fly such maneuvers. I won’t touch on the regulations, because I think we are all familiar with those. I’m just talking about practical considerations.

Normal planes tend to have non-symmetrical airfoils which were not designed to fly aerobatics. They feature slower roll rates, lower structural integrity under high G loads, and considerably less control authority. You might have noticed that the control surfaces on aerobatic airplanes are pretty large — they are designed that way because they’re needed to get safely into and out of aerobatic maneuvers.

That’s not to say an airplane with small control surfaces like a business jet or light GA single cannot perform aerobatics without disaster striking. Clay Lacy flies an airshow sequence in his Learjet. Duane Cole flew a Bonanza. Bob Hoover used a Shrike Commander. Sean Tucker flew an acro sequence in a Columbia (now known as the Cessna TTx). However, the margins are lower, the aerobatics are far more difficult, and pilots not experienced and prepared enough for those things are much more likely to end up hurt or dead.

Sean Tucker will tell you that the Columbia may not recover from spins of more than one or two turns. Duane Cole said the Bonanza (in which he did inverted ribbon cuts) had barely enough elevator authority for the maneuver, and it required incredible strength to hold the nose up far enough for inverted level flight. Bob Hoover tailored his performance to maneuvers the Shrike could do — he’ll tell you he avoided some aerobatic maneuvers because of the airplane’s limitations.

Knowing those limitations and how to deal with them — that’s where being an experienced professional aerobatic pilot makes the difference. And I’m sure none of those guys took flying those GA airplanes upside down lightly. A lot of planning, consideration, training and practice went into their performances.

Now, consider the aircraft condition. Any negative Gs and stuff will be flying around the cabin. Dirt from the carpet. Manuals. Items from the cargo area. Floor mats. Passengers. EFBs. Drinks. Anything in the armrest or sidewall pockets. That could be a little distracting. Items could get lodged behind the rudder pedals, hit you in the head, or worse.

If the belts aren’t tight enough, your posterior will quickly separate from the seat it’s normally attached to. And I assure you, your belts are not tight enough. Getting them that way involves cinching the lap belt down until it literally hurts. How many people fly a standard or transport category aircraft that way?

Now consider that the engine is not set up for fuel and oil flow under negative Gs. Even in airplanes specifically designed for acro, the G loads move the entire engine on the engine mount. In the Decathlon you can always see the spinner move up an inch or two when pushing a few negative Gs. Who knows what that would do with the tighter clearances between the fan and engine cowl on an airplane like the Gulfstream?

Next, let’s consider trim. The jet flies around with an electric trim system which doesn’t move all that quickly. The aircraft are typically trimmed for upright flight. That trim setting works heavily against you when inverted, and might easily reach the point where even full control deflection wouldn’t be sufficient.

I could go on, but suffice it to say that the more I learn about aerobatics, the less I would want to do them in a non-aerobatic aircraft – and certainly not a swept wing jet! Sure, if performed perfectly, you might be just fine. But any unusual attitude is going to be far more difficult — if not outright impossible — to recover from.

Dang it, Tex!

Every time someone references Tex Johnson’s famous barrel roll in the Boeing 707 prototype, I can’t help but wish he hadn’t done that. Yes, it helped sell an airplane the company had staked it’s entire future on, but aerobatic instructors have been paying the price ever since.

On January 17, 1997, a Piper Dakota departed Farmingdale, New York, on a planned two-hour VFR flight to Saranac Lake, New York. The pilot was experienced and instrument-rated; his 71-year-old mother, a low-time private pilot, occupied the right seat. Just over a half-hour into the flight, Boston Center got an emergency radio call from the mother, saying that the pilot (her son) had passed out.

The controller attempted a flight assist, and an Air National Guard helicopter joined up with the aircraft and participated in the talk-down attempt. Ultimately, however, the pilot’s mother also passed out.

The aircraft climbed into the clouds, apparently on autopilot, and continued to be tracked by ATC. About two hours into the flight, the airplane descended rapidly out of the clouds and crashed into the woods near Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. Both occupants died.

Toxicological tests revealed that the pilot’s blood had a CO saturation of 43% — sufficient to produce convulsions and coma—and his mother’s was 69%.

On December 6 that same year, a physician was piloting his Piper Comanche 400 from his hometown of Hoisington, Kansas, to Topeka when he fell asleep at the controls. The airplane continued on course under autopilot control for 250 miles until it ran a tank dry and (still on autopilot) glided miraculously to a soft wings-level crash-landingin a hay field near Cairo, Missouri.

The pilot was only slightly injured, and walked to a nearby farmhouse for help. Toxicology tests on a blood sample taken from the lucky doc hours later revealed CO saturation of 27%. It was almost certainly higher at the time of the crash.

Just a few days later, a new 1997 Cessna 182S was being ferried from the Cessna factory in Independence, Kansas, to a buyer in Germany when the ferry pilot felt ill and suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. She landed successfully and examination of the muffler revealed that it had been manufactured with defective welds. Subsequent pressure tests by Cessna of new Cessna 172 and 182 mufflers in inventory revealed that 20% of them had leaky welds. The FAA issued an emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD 98-02-05) requiring muffler replacement on some 300 new Cessna 172s and182s.

About 18 months later, the FAA issued AD 99-11-07 against brand new air-conditioned Mooney M20R Ovations when dangerous levels of CO were found in their cabins.

Click on image above for high-resolution printable version.

Not just in winter

A search of the NTSB accident database suggests that CO-related accidents and incidents occur far more frequently than most pilots believe. Counterintuitively, these aren’t confined to winter-time flying with the cabin heat on. Look at the months during which the following accidents and incidents occurred during the 15-year period from 1983 to 1997:

March 1983. The Piper PA-22-150 N1841P departed Tucumcari, N.M. After leveling at 9,600, the right front seat passenger became nauseous, vomited, and fell asleep. The pilot began feeling sleepy and passed out. A 15-year-old passenger in the back seat took control of the aircraft by reaching between the seats, but the aircraft hit a fence during the emergency landing. None of the four occupants were injured. Multiple exhaust cracks and leaks were found in the muffler. The NTSB determined the probable cause of the accident to be incapacitation of the PIC from carbon monoxide poisoning. [FTW83LA156]

February 1984. The pilot of Beech Musketeer N6141N with four aboard reported that he was unsure of his position. ATC identified the aircraft and issued radar vectors toward Ocean Isle, N.C. Subsequently, a female passenger radioed that the pilot was unconscious. The aircraft crashed in a steep nose-down attitude, killing all occupants. Toxicological tests of the four victims revealed caboxyhemoglobin levels of 24%, 22%, 35% and 44%. [ATL84FA090]

November 1988. The Cessna 185 N20752 bounced several times while landing at Deadhorse, Alaska. The pilot collapsed shortly after getting out of the airplane. Blood samples taken from the pilot three hours after landing contained 22.1% carboxyhemoglobin. The left engine muffler overboard tube was broken loose from the muffler where the two are welded. The NTSB determined probable cause to be physical impairment of the pilot-in-command due to carbon monoxide poisoning. [ANC89IA019]

July 1990. While on a local flight, the homebuilt Olsen Pursuit N23GG crashed about three-tenths of a mile short of Runway 4 at Fowler, Colo. No one witnessed the crash, but post-crash investigation indicated that there was no apparent forward movement of the aircraft after its initial impact. The aircraft burned, and both occupants died. Toxicology tests of the pilot and passenger were positive for carboxyhemoglobin. [DEN90DTE04]

August 1990. About fifteen minutes into the local night flight in Cessna 150 N741MF, the aircraft crashed into Lake Michigan about one mile from the shoreline near Holland, Mich. Autopsies were negative for drowning, but toxicological tests were positive for carboxyhemoglobin, with the pilot’s blood testing at 21%. [CHI90DEM08]

July 1991. The student pilot and a passenger (!) were on a pleasure flight in Champion 7AC N3006E owned by the pilot. The aircraft was seen to turn into a valley in an area of mountainous terrain, where it subsequently collided with the ground near Burns, Ore., killing both occupants. A toxicology exam of the pilot’s blood showed a saturation of 20% carboxyhemoglobin, sufficient to cause headache, confusion, dizziness and visual disturbance. [SEA91FA156]

October 1992. The pilot of Cessna 150 N6402S was in radio contact with the control tower at Mt. Gilead, Ohio, and in a descent from 5,000 feet to 2,000 feet in preparation for landing. Radar contact was lost, and the aircraft crashed into a wooded area, seriously injuring the pilot. Toxicological tests on the pilot’s blood were positive for carbon monoxide. Examination of the left muffler revealed three cracks and progressive deterioration. The NTSB found probable cause of the accident to be pilot incapacitation due to carbon monoxide poisoning. [NYC93LA031]

April 1994. Fifteen minutes after takeoff from Long Beach, Calif., the Cessna 182 N9124G began deviating from headings, altitudes and ATC instructions. The aircraft did several 360- and 180-degree turns. The pilot reported blurred vision, headaches, nausea, labored breathing, and difficulty staying awake. The aircraft ultimately crashed in a vineyard near Kerman, Calif., and the owner/pilot was seriously injured. Post-crash inspection revealed numerous small leaks in the exhaust system. The pilot tested positive for carbon monoxide even after 11 hours of oxygen therapy. [LAX94LA184]

October 1994. A student pilot returned to Chesterfield, Mo., from a solo cross-country flight in Cessna 150 N7XC, complaining of headache, nausea, and difficulty walking. The pilot was hospitalized, and medical tests revealed elevated CO which required five and a half hours breathing 100% oxygen to reduce to normal levels. Post-flight inspection revealed a crack in an improperly repaired muffler that had been installed 18 hours earlier. [CHI95IA030]

March 1996. The pilot of Piper Cherokee 140 N95394 stated that she and her passenger became incapacitated after takeoff from Pittsburg, Kan. The airplane impacted the terrain, but the occupants were uninjured. Both were hospitalized, and toxicological tests for carbon monoxide were positive. A subsequent examination found holes in the muffler. [CHI96LA101]

August 1996. A Mankovich Revenge racer N7037J was #2 in a four-airplane ferry formation of Formula V Class racing airplanes. The #3 pilot said that the #2 pilot’s flying was erratic during the flight. The airplane crashed near Jeffersonville, Ind., killing the pilot. The results of FAA toxicology tests of the pilot’s blood revealed a 41% saturation of carboxyhemoglobin; loss of consciousness is attained at approximately 30%. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the adhesive resin that bound the rubber stripping forming the firewall lower seal was missing. The NTSB determined probable cause of the accident to be pilot incapacitation due to carbon monoxide poisoning. [CHI96FA322]

December 1997. A new Cessna 182S was being ferried from the factory in Independence, Kan., to a buyer in Germany when the ferry pilot felt ill and suspected carbon monoxide poisoning (described previously). [Priority Letter AD 98-02-05]

Overall, deaths from unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning have dropped sharply since the mid-1970s thanks mainly to lower CO emissions from automobiles with catalytic converters (most CO deaths are motor vehicle-related) and safer heating and cooking appliances. But CO-related airplane accidents and incidents haven’t followed this trend. The ADs issued against Independence-built Cessna 172s and 182s and Mooney Ovations demonstrates that even brand new airplanes aren’t immune.

Click on image above for high-resolution printable version.

Close calls

In addition to these events in the NTSB accident database where CO poisoning was clearly implicated, there were almost certainly scores of accidents, incidents, and close calls where CO was probably a factor.

In January 1999, for example, a Cessna 206 operated by the U.S. Customs Service was on a night training mission when it inexplicably crashed into Biscayne Bay a few miles off the south Florida coast. The experienced pilot survived the crash, but had no recollection of what happened. The NTSB called it simple pilot error and never mentioned CO as a possible contributing factor. However, enough carboxyhemoglobin was found in the pilot’s blood that the Customs Service suspected that CO poisoning might have been involved.

The agency purchased sensitive industrial electronic CO detectors for every single-engine Cessna in its fleet, and discovered that many of the planes had CO-in-the-cockpit problems. On-board CO detectors and CO checks during maintenance inspections have been standard operating procedure for the Customs Service ever since.

How much CO is too much?

It depends on whom you ask.

EPA calls for a health hazard alert when the outdoor concentration of CO rises above 9 parts per million (ppm) for eight hours, or above 35ppm for one hour. OSHA originally established a maximum safe limit for exposure to CO in the workplace of 35 ppm, but later raised it to 50 ppm under pressure from industry.

The FAA requires that CO in the cabin not exceed 50 ppm during certification testing of new GA airplanes certified under FAR Part 23 (e.g. Cessna Corvallis, Cirrus SR22, Diamond DA-40). Legacy aircraft certified under older CAR 3 regs required no CO testing at all during certification.

Once certified, FAA requires no CO testing of individual aircraft by the factory, and no follow-up retesting during annual inspections. A March 2010 FAA SAIB (CE-10-19 R1) recommends checking CO levels with a hand-held electronic CO detector during ground runups at each annual and 100-hour inspection, but in my experience very few shops and mechanics do this.

UL-approved residential CO detectors are not permitted to alarm until the concentration rises to 70 ppm and stays there for four hours. (This was demanded by firefighters and utility companies to reduce the incidence of nuisance calls from homeowners.) Yet most fire departments require that firefighters put on their oxygen masks immediately when CO levels reach 25 ppm or higher.

It’s important to understand that low concentrations of CO are far more hazardous to pilots than to non-pilots. That’s because the effects of altitude hypoxia and CO poisoning are cumulative. For example, a COHb saturation of 10% (which is about what you’d get from chain-smoking cigarettes) would probably not be noticeable to someone on the ground. But at 10,000 feet, it could seriously degrade your night vision, judgment, and possibly cause a splitting headache.

After studying this hazard for many years and consulting with world-class aeromedical experts, I have come to the following conclusions:

Any in-flight CO concentration above 10 ppm should be brought to the attention of an A&P for troubleshooting and resolution.

Any in-flight CO concentration above 35 ppm should be grounds for going on supplemental oxygen (if available) and making a precautionary landing as soon as practicable.

Smokers are far more vulnerable to both altitude hypoxia and CO poisoning, since they’re already in a partially poisoned state when they first get into the aircraft. Because of COHb’s long half-life, you’d do well to abstain from smoking for 8 to 12 hours prior to flight.

Choosing a CO detector

Chemical spot detectors:Stay away from those ubiquitous el-cheapo adhesive-backed cardboard chemical spot detectors that are commonly sold by pilot shops and mail-order outfits for under trade names like “Dead Stop,” “Heads Up” and “Quantum Eye.” They have a very short useful life (about 30 days), and are extremely vulnerable to contamination from aromatic cleaners, solvents and other chemicals routinely used in aircraft maintenance.

These things often remain stuck on the instrument panel for years, providing a dangerous false sense of security. What’s worse, there’s no warning that the detector is outdated or has been contaminated—in some ways, that’s worse than not having a detector at all.

Even when fresh, chemical spot detectors are incapable of detecting low levels of CO. They’ll start turning color at 100ppm, but so slowly and subtly that you’ll never notice it. For all practical purposes, you’ll get no warning until concentrations rise to the 200 to 400 ppm range, by which time you’re likely to be too impaired to notice the color change.

(1) The digital readout must not display any CO concentration less than 30 ppm.

(2) The alarm will not sound until CO reaches 70 ppm and remains at or above that level for four hours.

(3) Even at a concentration of 400 ppm, it may take as much as 15 minutes before the alarm sounds.

For aircraft use, you really want something much more sensitive and fast-acting. I like the non-UL-compliant CO Experts Model 2015 ($199 from www.aeromedix.com). It displays CO concentrations as low as 7 ppm and provides a loud audible alarm at concentrations above 25 ppm. It updates its display every 10 seconds (compared to once a minute for most residential detectors), which makes it quite useful as a “sniffer” for trying to figure out exactly where CO is entering the cabin.

Industrial electronic detectors:Industrial CO detectors cost between $400 and $1,000. A good choice for in-cockpit use is the BW Honeywell GasAlert Extreme CO ($410 from www.gassniffer.com). This unit displays CO concentrations from 0 to 1,000 ppm on its digital display, has a very loud audible alarm with dual trigger levels (35 and 200 ppm).

Purpose-built aviation electronic detectors:Tucson-based CO Guardian LLC makes a family of TSO’d panel-mount electronic CO detectors specifically designed for cockpit use. These detectors detect and alarm at 50 ppm (after 10 minutes), or 70 ppm (after 5 minutes), and will alarm instantly if concentrations rise to 400 ppm. The digital display models ($599 and up) will show concentrations as low as 10 ppm. Available from www.coguardian.com. Obviously, panel-mount detectors cannot be used as a sniffer to locate the source of a CO leak.

For more information…

There is an outstanding October 2009 research paper titled “Detection and Prevention of Carbon Monoxide Exposure in General Aviation Aircraft” authored by Wichita State University under sponsorship of the FAA Office of Research and Technology Development. The paper is 111 pages long, and discusses (among other things):

I was an airport kid. As a family we attended airport days. Heck I even learned to drive a car, at an airport. We flew a lot, in state, and out to visit relatives. Most times as we taxied or parked my father would exclaim, “Another successful flight of Haywire Airlines!” That would always make me laugh and today makes me smile.

My father, now 92, is the one who inspired me to become a pilot. But I didn’t get the bug right away or even as a young person. In 2002, I was visiting our hometown for a family reunion and it was airport day. My Dad landed in his Mooney. My brother landed in his V-tail Bonanza. I thought “What is wrong with this picture?” that was in July and I had my license in September.

My Dad made flying look easy. He was a primary trainer in WWII at Rankin Field in Tulare, CA. He tells great stories of antics with Tex Rankin and Sammy Mason. During his time at Rankin he met my Mom on a blind date, then took her for a ride in the Stearman. He said she liked the flight and he knew that she was going to be a great mate. 64 years later they were still in love, when she flew West.

So thanks to my Dad, I am a pilot. I try to Fly It Forward to kids and adults alike. Mid-October brings cool, crisp flying weather and a close to the busy airport day and air show season for me. Recently I took an opportunity to re-read some posts from an AOPA Red Board thread I began in 2012 about who inspired us to become pilots. This quote on mentoring by Benjamin Franklin sums this concept up nicely: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” My hope is that as we reflect on those who mentored us that we might take up the mantle and Fly it Forward for another. Enjoy the stories, perhaps put your own in the comment section, and better than that, be someone else’s inspiration.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

When I was growing up, my dad was a controller at a Class D airport- Camarillo, CA. I hung out there a lot when I was 11-15 years old, and knew the make and model of planes by sight. One day when I was 12, a pilot offered rides to the controllers, and my dad talked him into taking up our family. I got to the airport and there was a beautiful yellow PT-17 Stearman, done in the Navy trainer scheme. I waited anxiously for my turn to go up- watching him take off and land from the base of the tower with my other family members. Finally, it was my turn.

The ride was unbelievable! Wearing a leather cap, we flew around Saticoy and over by Santa Paula. Early on in the flight, he showed me how to control the plane with the control stick, and let me fly just about everywhere! I was speechless during the whole flight! When we were back on the ground, I looked up at him and offered him the $6 I had in my pocket for gas. I looked at him like he was a god. He just smiled, put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Keep your money, but if you ever have the chance to pass this along, do it.” To this day, I still do!
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I’ve been fascinated, even obsessed, with aviation my entire life, but never got around to becoming a pilot. In 2001 at the Watsonville (WVI) airshow, I went for a flight in CAF’s B-17 “Sentimental Journey”.

After the flight, I was talking with the pilot, last name Kimmel. I told him that I had wanted to be a pilot forever but hadn’t gone ahead and started taking lessons. Kimmel grabbed me by the shoulders and said, “What are you waiting for? Get off your butt and do it!” Two days later I was back at WVI taking my first lesson.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I grew up in a very poor family and area and no one I knew had any interest in aviation. I can remember times when there was no money and very little food to eat even though my father worked hard. Because we had nothing as kids we dreamed of things we would one day do. One summer day when I was four years old I was lying on my back in the shade of a tree just looking up at all the big fluffy white clouds sailing across the sky, and then I heard a noise coming closer. Out of the clouds came a beautiful 4-engine airplane and having never seen one I had no idea what it was but it was huge! It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and it was just dancing in and out of the clouds. And right then and there my dream of one day flying an amazing machine like the bomber I had seen was born. That was in 1961 and when I announced that evening to my family that I was one day going to be a pilot, you can guess the reaction. Sitting at the dinner table eating corned beef hash because potatoes were about the only thing we could afford, I was laughed at by my brothers and sister, and mom said she hoped I would one day be rich and I could fly her all around the world. Dad told me that a man has to have a dream to work toward and that was a grand one.

The years rolled by and every time I heard an airplane I would look up and dream. Finally I graduated high school and 6 weeks later I married my high school sweetheart and I was due to leave for boot camp in 60 days. During this time I flew for the first time, it was on the day of my first lesson. It was everything I ever dreamed of in an old 172 and I was in love. As so often happens life soon got in the way and I stopped taking lessons after about 8 hours. Off to boot camp and later we built our own home. Some more years went by and finally my wife told me that I should go back to flying since I loved it so much. What a wonderful wife. I started taking lessons again but with a different instructor and he was amazing. When I was ready to quit because I could not learn to land he kept encouraging me and let me continue to beat up his airplane. Never once did he get upset and believe me he had good reason. He has the patience of a saint. After many hours and many bad landings I finally got it. I went for my check ride in 1985 and I passed!

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

I was 14, my cousin was an instructor, and got my parents’ permission to fly me from Meadowlark airport in Huntington Beach (where she was teaching) to Reno. It was a T210 (N732WF), and she was checking out a new pilot in this plane. I sat in the back seat. I don’t remember much about the flight, but I do recall going through some clouds shortly before landing, and she turned around and asked me if I saw the landing gear down. I didn’t know it was a retract, and I was concerned that she was concerned that we might not see a wheel out there! It was a little rough during the approach and she was convinced I’d never get in another airplane as long as I lived! The truth was, I actually thought, “This is SO COOL! I’m gonna be a pilot in TEN YEARS!”
The next summer, I spent a few more weeks in the Reno area. She took me for a ride in a Mooney (N201DK), and this time I got to sit in the right seat. I got to fly over Lake Tahoe and got a real taste for it. This time, I updated my goal: “In FIVE YEARS, I’m gonna be a pilot!” She gave me the best piece of advice a 15-year-old kid could get: Just identify your goal, eliminate the obstacles, and all that’s left is success!

Just over one year later, and two days after my 17th birthday, I earned my PPL. That was many years ago, and I’m now a 737 Captain for a major airline, and she’s an inspector supervisor with the FAA. We haven’t flown together since then, but I do try to Fly it Forward through Young Eagles 20-some kids last year, and 40-ish this year. I sit right seat in my 182 for those flights, and put the kids in the pilot seat. I enjoy it, but they LOVE it, and if even one of those kids decides to take it further, it’ll have been worth it.

Many opinion leaders prominently featured in media and other communication channels, including social networks, know very little about Business Aviation. In fact, the entire segment of we call General Aviation is a mystery to most of the public.

We define General Aviation by what it is not: It’s not the airlines, it’s not military aviation. Those broad classes of aviation are familiar to the public and easily identified. GA is everything else. Something is missing when we fail to identify General Aviation by its unique characteristics and benefits.

Residing under the wide umbrella of General Aviation is the segment we call Business Aviation. Little wonder that the use of general aviation aircraft for business transportation—i.e., Business Aviation—is not well understood. Consequently our community too often is the target for pejorative rhetoric by politicians as well as some who wish to stir discontent and envy between different economic strata.

Business Aviation is simply a highly useful and productive form of air transportation. It is not a substitute for the airlines. The use of business aircraft is complementary rather than competitive to scheduled air carriers, providing access to 10 times the number of airports that have any form of airline service and 100 times the locations with business-friendly schedules. Business Aviation provides access by air to locations the airlines do not serve and do not want to serve. Travel between many places in rural America and throughout the world is not economically viable for the scheduled air carriers.

Furthermore, Business Aviation itself is broad, encompassing aircraft of all types and sizes used in various applications ranging from owner-flown business trips to charter, fractional ownership and corporate flight operations.

Corporations and entrepreneurs need to travel. Even in this age of Internet and smartphones, nothing replaces the benefits of being face-to-face with clients and business partners. Thus when companies must position their people to various locations, they select the scheduled airlines when that form of transport provides the most cost-effective means of movement and Business Aviation when using a business aircraft provides a more productive use of travel time. Studies by leading research firms such as Harris Interactive show that business aircraft are highly effective in adding productivity to a business person’s travel time. Nearly 75 percent of passengers on company-owned aircraft are middle managers or technical specialists, not Mahogany Row types.

Thus it is understandable that member companies of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), the world’s most active users of business jets, spend billions of dollars annually on airline tickets. When Robert Crandall, at the time President and Chairman of America Airlines, was the keynote speaker at the NBAA’s 50th anniversary meeting, he said it was his pleasure to address his “best customers”.

On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I spent a few minutes at the National Air and Space Museum’s mall location. More than a decade ago, the NBAA sponsored an exhibit called “Business Wings” to provide a platform for expanding the public’s understanding of why companies use business aircraft. The program occupied a sizable portion of the westernmost wing of the first floor hall and was seem by over 2,000,000 visitors during its two year or so run at the museum. Some aspects of the display remained for several more years.

I was disappointed to find no reference to Business Aviation during my brief jaunt through the NASM’s location in the heart of our nation’s capital. I understand that there is reference to business aircraft at the Museum’s Hazy Center at Dulles, however. Educating the public and their opinion leaders is a practical necessity for obtaining legislation that assures access to airspace and airports for business aircraft as well as reasonable fees and taxes associated with Business Aviation. It is in our collective best interests as aviators with the knowledge and appreciation of all aspect of General Aviation to seize each opportunity to communicate the good news of our community.

This morning I heard an airplane take off. It was a throaty roar of a single engine piston airplane, and though I didn’t see it, I’d swear it was a Cessna 182. It was a wonderful noise. It was a noise I associate with home.

You see, I’ve been traveling on the Iberian Peninsula for a month, and in that time I saw or heard general aviation aircraft less than a half a dozen times. It was the oddest sensation, asking locals if there was an airport in the area for small aircraft, and seeing faces draw a complete blank. The question wasn’t being lost in translation. The small airports are so quiet these days that the people had no real experience with light aircraft.

I’d researched general aviation in Portugal and Spain before I left the U.S., and had high hopes of encountering at least some aeroclub flying, similar to what I had found traveling in South Africa, but it was not to be. Even the flight training going on in the countries seemed anemic in comparison to the activity here in the U.S. Sad, too, because in both countries the GA airports were there. They were just seriously under utilized.

In Spain the complaint is that handling fees, a combination of security restrictions and onerous, unnecessary services (bus rides on the ramp to and from the general aviation terminal) are strangling general aviation pilots. Even though mandated tariffs are relatively inexpensive, the companies providing the services are padding these fees so much that, according to AOPA Spain, they approach the cost of operating the airplane for the cross country flight.

The most aviation I saw over the course of a month traveling the peninsula north to south, was in the little town of Evora, where Skydive Portugal had a Cessna 206 running all day one Saturday, taking neophytes up for tandem jumps. It was great to watch the airplane head off, climbing to 13,00o MSL, and then disgorging its load. There is nothing quite like the snap and swoosh of a chute opening above you, followed by the hoots and laughter of the tandem riders, who seemed unanimously thrilled both by the freefall and by the fact that the chute opened on command. They’d live to jump another day!

But other than the Cessna 206 hauling skydivers there was just one or two general aviation movements on the field over the four days I was there. This, even though Embraer has a large, modern metal and composite factory just off the north end of the runway, where it is making parts for its Legacy 450/500 aircraft, along with parts for military aircraft.

I have to admit that it made me sad to see so few aircraft flying in two countries where the weather and the terrain is perfect for general aviation. It seems that onerous fees, combined with struggling economic trials have put serious challenges to pilots in Portugal and Spain.

My hope is that they can overcome the trials and re-emerge as great countries for general aviation flying in Europe. That way, the next time I visit, I can see the Iberian Peninsula the way I most enjoy, from the air.